Six Conversations. One Advantage.
How the Best Leaders Pull Ahead — and Stay There.
Standout teaches managers how to raise performance AND discover the 'secret sauce' of the human potential of people working together to bring out their team’s best.

Ceree Eberly
Former Chief People Officer,
The Coca-Cola Company
Standout, cuts through the noise and re-centers managers on what really matters: mastering six pivotal conversations with their people.Â

Matt Dixon, Wall Street Journal Bestselling co-author of The Activator Advantage and The Challenger Sale, Founding Partner, DCM Insights
I spent 25+ years advising Fortune 1000 executives and managing global teams at public companies and start-ups (Gartner, CEB, Talent Neuron, Legg Mason).
One thing I learnt — most managers follow a flawed management playbook of always busy and accountable, but unsure how to make real progress. Standout shows you how to create an unfair advantage.
Every manager’s career hinges on six conversations—most don’t know how to run them. Standout changes that
Strategy ConversationÂ
Know exactly what to focus on so your work matters.
Breakthrough Conversation
Turn tough moments into breakthroughs and spark your team’s best work.
Performance Conversation
Help your team get better so your results get better.
Goal ConversationÂ
Get your team running on its own so you get your time back.
Partner Conversation
Collaborate seamlessly across teams so work moves faster.
AI Conversation
Decide with clarity and anticipate what’s ahead.
When this clicks, you become a "ready now" leader for your next leadership role. Â
The myths you were told
and how you actually succeed.
The New Management System.
One Clear Path
To Standout.
This Book Is For You If:
- You’re a seasoned leader looking to move to the next level
- You lead people in any context — founder, non-profit, government
- You’re a first-time manager finding your footing
- You’re busy, but not getting ahead
- You're done being just competentÂ
If you've felt the gap between effort
and impact, start here.
Get your copy of STANDOUTÂ
and start leading at the next level
 Find it on Amazon worldwide
Why Standout is different
Built on evidence,
not opinion.
The six conversations were found by studying what high performers actually do — not prescribed from theory.
Works in meetings
you're already having.
No new system to add. Everything changes about how you run what's already there.
A system that
compounds.
Each conversation makes the next one stronger. The whole gets better as each part improves.
The Things Standout Will Teach You
-
Know exactly what to focus on so your work actually matters
-
Turn tough moments into breakthroughs that spark your team’s best work
-
Help your team get better so your results improve and they run on their own
-
Get 1 day a week back to do your promotion-level thinking or work Â
-
Collaborate seamlessly across teams so work moves faster
-
Decide with clarity and be 10 steps ahead
-
Stop being the bottleneck your team works around
-
Use AI before it makes your judgment obsolete
-
 … and much, much more.
By Monday, you could be the leader you were meant to be.
More Praise for Standout
Standout points an intensive spotlight on the scale of the opportunity and provides practical insights boards and CEOs can use to unlock their organization’s potential.
Aaron Kissel, CEO Assemble; Former General Manager of the Wall Street Journal; and Former Chief Product Officer at Politico
Â
I’ve seen Jaime turn real-world challenges into practical wisdom. Standout equips managers with six clear, courageous, and catalytic conversations that drive performance, alignment, and trust.Â

Jacques Antebi, Partner, Melitas Ventures, Former Executive Vice President KIND Snacks, Former McKinsey Partner
At Harvard Business School, we teach that the hardest part of management is not having the right answers, but knowing which questions truly matter. Standout takes that idea seriously.
This book expands what managers believe they are allowed to ask—and in doing so, expands what they are able to accomplish.

Derek van Bever, Harvard Business School, Â
Director of the Forum for Growth and Innovation.
Download the First Chapters of Standout
(for FREE)
Learn why “focusing on what you control” quietly limits managers, and learn how to apply six conversations to Standout with your team and in your career.
Hi, I’m Jaime.
I’ve spent the last 25+ years inside organizations, helping managers and executives lead through uncertainty and scale their impact. Most recently, I was a General Manager and Global Executive Committee member at Gartner, leading global research, events, and advisory teams.
Along the way, I built $300M+ businesses, hired and developed hundreds of leaders, and advised thousands of Fortune 1000 executives.
While at Gartner, I co-authored the book, The Connector Manager: Why Some Leaders Build Exceptional Talent—and Others Don’t, pioneering how organizations think about manager development. I wrote Standout to share what separates average managers from leaders who rise above the rest.
What's Inside
Assessments
2 Assessments — know exactly where you stand before you start with easy actions to take
Tools
14 Practical Tools — one for every situation you'll actually face
and easy to implement today
Real World
Stories from the field — CEOs, Titans
of Industry, exceptional leaders inside the world's most successful organizations
Go deeper here, become the leader you were meant to be.
